On the 17th, a counter and refrigerator in a target store in South Austin, Texas, were empty. Austin = AP Newsis
In the US state of Texas, where the worst power outage occurred due to a record cold wave, residents are experiencing a triple crisis, such as water shortage and food shortage. There are cases of damage caused by Korean Americans.
Conservatives, including the Republican Party, are criticizing it for the new and renewable energy policies of President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party’s government. There is also growing criticism against the state government, which has maintained an independent grid of electricity from the federal government. This is because Texas has traditionally had strong Republican support and has been considered a garden.
According to CNN broadcasting in the US on the 18th (local time), there has been a four-day blackout in Texas. The Electric Reliability Commission (ERCOT), which operates the Texas power grid, issued a statement that day and said that although significant progress was made in power recovery, a circular blackout is inevitable for the next two days as the cold wave continues.
Carbon monoxide poisoning deaths while trying to avoid the cold
A vehicle carrying residents on the 17th in Galveston, Texas, where a massive blackout occurred due to the worst cold wave recently, is waiting for its turn to enter a cold wave shelter. Galveston = Reuters Yonhap News
Millions of Texas residents have been living in icy homes since the 15th when electricity was cut off.
Timothy Wilshee, who lives in Euless, Texas, and his wife, Nicole, and their seven-year-old son, rely on the warmth of the candlelight to wait for power to return under their blankets. The smartphone, which is the only means of communication with the outside, was only charged after starting the vehicle. I couldn’t cook food, so I endured with snacks and mineral water, and I was searching for a restaurant that opened.
According to the New York Times (NYT), at least 31 people died in the United States in a cold wave. There have also been cases of death from carbon monoxide poisoning while turning on the heat in a car or using a fireplace to avoid the cold.
In Houston, Texas, two family members living in parked cars died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Three family members, including grandmother and grandson, died in a fire while setting a fire in the fireplace. In Fort Worth, 13 children were treated for carbon monoxide poisoning, and more than 200 cases of carbon monoxide poisoning occurred in Harris.
A photo of a site posted by a Korean netizen who said he was in Texas, USA. Online community capture
Domestic netizens’ damage cases are also coming up one after another. Netizen A, who said he was a native of Texas on the 18th, said, “There are a lot of households hit by electricity bill bombs by one of the local electric companies raising their electricity bill from 45 cents per kW to $8. Even if they tried to change to an electric company, the first charge was 380,000 won in two days.”
Another netizen B, who said that he was a Korean citizen, said, “Most of the houses are electric heating, so there is a lack of electricity. I went to the mart today and there is no water.
However, power outage damage gradually decreased from 4.5 million households to 550,000 households as of the 18th as electricity was supplied.
“It is blamed for the development of new and renewable energy” VS “It is blamed for not preparing for oil only”
On the 17th, a couple is leaving the house with their belongings near Glenwood in Huto, Texas. They said they would leave their homes and go to a nearby hotel to escape from the cold due to the subsequent blackout. Huto = AP Newsis
In the midst of this, debates over energy policy have also arisen over the cause of this massive blackout.
On the 16th, Republican Governor Greg Abbott appeared on Fox News and claimed that “the wind and solar generators, which account for 10% of the entire grid, have stopped working.” “This is a proof that fossil fuels are needed,” he said. “The government’s Green New Deal policy will be fatal to the country.”
On the same day, Congressman Lauren Bobert and Texas State Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller also pointed out renewable energy as the cause of the blackout through Social Network Services (SNS).
In an editorial, the conservative powerhouse Wall Street Journal (WSJ) criticized, “The reliability of the power grid has declined because of the increased dependence on wind and solar energy, which cannot provide power 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”
On the other hand, the New York Times (NYT) of the US Japan pointed out that “the freezing of the natural gas pipeline caused a crisis.” In fact, ERCOT said on the 16th that the loss of electricity from natural gas, coal, and nuclear power generation due to shutdown was 30GW, and that the loss of renewable energy, including wind power generation, was about half at 16GW.
In particular, there are criticisms that this energy disaster in Texas is the result of not having a power connection network in case of sudden energy supply disruption.
Texas is called’the land of energy’. ‘West Texas crude oil’, where the headquarters of the world’s leading energy companies are gathered and one of the world’s top three crude oils, is being used as a barometer of the world’s crude oil prices.
An ironic situation in which energy shortages took place in Texas, such as’the land of energy’.
Experts said that it was poisonous for Texas to maintain a closed grid system so that they could not trade electricity with other states because they had sufficient energy supply and demand.
In normal times, there was an advantage of being less susceptible to federal scrutiny and the ability to operate the grid as desired, but it is analyzed that power cannot be drawn from neighboring states during an emergency like this one.
Sungwon Son reporter [email protected]
Eunki Lee Intern reporter
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